My Dream Date Diary

Thanks to Lomography, I won the Apply For A Dream Date Contest and got myself 250 Euros, which made all of this possible. I went on a 15 day trip to Taiwan from January 27 to February 11, 2012 to meet my girlfriend. Basically, I spent almost all the 250 Euros for the air ticket as it was not as cheap as I thought; the rest was all on my personal expense. These 15 days I could say we were both the happiest couple in the world. We had so many memorable moments and I’m sharing a few that I favor the most.

One of my favorite places on the trip was when we went to Yingge District, which is in southwestern New Taipei City. This place is famous for pottery. Then, I have decided to make a mug for my girlfriend even though I have completely no experience! I went into one of the DIY pottery shops and the fun began! The men who run the shop taught me techniques on how to shape the mug then I’m on my own. It wasn’t as hard as I thought and I managed to shape the mug to what I had in mind. Next, I added stuff I like on the mug and personalized it. The whole process took less than 1 hour. I was pretty satisfied with what I made and my girlfriend loves it very much too! I hope that every time she uses the mug it will remind her of me! :D

Besides that, on one of the nights, both of us went cycling! I brought her at the back of bicycle and rode around the nearby neighborhood. The roads were empty, the wind was so chilling, and we were chatting on the bike filled with laughter and joy. I really enjoyed myself very much. A peaceful, romantic ride with my significant other on a cold silent night was priceless.

Another thing that I was really looking forward to during the trip was attending the Annual Lantern Festival held at Pingxi District! The sky lantern is something like a mini hot air balloon and is found in traditional Chinese culture. So what we do is write wishes on it and let it fly in the sky so that the wishes come true! On the day of the festival, they were so many people attending the event. We literally squeezed in the train for an hour in order to get there. And one unbelievable thing was, when I was trying to buy a sky lantern, it took me about half an hour to actually find one. Most of the sky lanterns were already sold out. Then, my girlfriend and I took turns to fill up the sky lanterns with our wishes. The main thing that I wished for is for my family and friends to be healthy and happy. The rest are just my own personal wishes. (for example my whole gang of friends and I to graduate together and have a bright future ahead)

When we were done, I was peeping at what my girlfriend wrote and I saw “May Iris Tsai and Larry Wong stay happy and blissful forever.” I was touched and tears rolled down my cheeks instantly. Deep down in my heart, I told myself I will make this happen. Then, we released our sky lantern and hoped that our wishes will come true. The sky was lit up with hundreds and hundreds of sky lanterns, each filled with different wishes, and the view was absolutely stunning.

Finally, I would never forget the last night before I left Taiwan. We bought tickets for a midnight movie called Love, directed by Niu Chen-Zer. Since we still have 2 hours plus to spare before the movie starts, we went to Starbucks and grabbed a drink. Both of us have the habit of writing in diaries during the days that we are physically together and exchange them on the last day. So, we used the time to finish off what we wanted to write. I had so much to write and it took me almost 2 hours to compress my thoughts and feelings to just words on stark white pages. By the way, this is rather emotional, thus the Starbucks customers might feel kinda awkward to see a crazy couple writing and tears dropping just beside the entrance. When we were done writing, we exchanged them right away and read it on the spot. The diaries contain our thoughts for every single day that we were together. It’s what we read when we miss each other which also remind us of the wonderful memories we had. While reading it, the thought of I’m going to leave her soon kept striking me. It’s sad but we still have to face it.

It was almost 12.30 AM and it was finally show time! To be honest, I didn’t expect much from the movie. But I would say it was really a good choice. It was about how simple love can be and yet difficult at times. So do you know what love is? It kept me thinking and thinking how much I understand love throughout the movie. And yes, I know what love is. It means to appreciate the person that I’m holding hands with now and to make her happy, as simple as that. When the show ended, my girlfriend started to cry! I can sense that she’s afraid to say goodbye. I hold her in my arms until almost everyone else left. It’s so heart breaking to see her cry her heart out which made me want to cry, too.

Goodbyes are always the hardest for us. But somehow, we are get better at dealing with it compared to before. This time, I knew that we will see each other again in 4 months, which is during my graduation ceremony. Thus, I felt like it’s finally time to work hard again after all the fun that I had, which made this goodbye seemed less depressing to me. At the airport, both of us looked horrible with swelling eyes. I tried my very best to hold my tears as I know that she will cry too as soon as she sees my tears. Guess what? The farewell was quick and this is what I intentionally wanted it to be so that we don’t have much time to respond to it. But once I walked pass the gate towards immigration, I couldn’t hold it any further, my visions became blurry, my mind went blank, and emotions took over. And that’s how my 15 days date ended.

My dear, please don’t be too sad, I wish that you could still wake up and look forward to the wonderful brand new days ahead. Let’s work hard towards our goals & dreams, and never give up. Take care and miss me!

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